University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina Football History Book
June 21, 1999 | Football
June 15, 1999
When Jonathan Linton rushed for 199 yards in Carolina's 50-14 win over Duke in the 1997 regular-season finale, he became the 14th Tar Heel running back to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. Linton, now with the Buffalo Bills, finished that 11-1 season with 1,004 yards. UNC players have accomplished the feat 24 times, an NCAA record. The University of Southern California is second with 20.
Those 24 1,000-yard seasons have been achieved in the last 30 years, beginning with Don McCauley, who had back-to-back 1,000-yard campaigns in 1969 and 1970. Linton was the fourth different Tar Heel back to gain 1,000 yards in the 1990s. Natrone Means had 1,030 yards as a sophomore in 1991 and 1,195 yards in leading UNC to nine wins in 1992. In '91, Means topped 1,000 yards on his final carry of the season, a 68-yard touchdown run versus Duke. He vaulted past 1,000 in similar fashion a year later as he reached the magical figure on a wild, 76-yard scoring scamper at Maryland.
Means entered the NFL Draft after his junior year, but Curtis Johnson and Leon Johnson responded with tandem 1,000-yard seasons in 1993. That was the fourth time in UNC history that not one, but two, players topped the 1,000-yard mark.
Carolina's 24 1,000-yard seasons are more than the next two ACC schools have combined. Virginia is second in number of 1,000-yard seasons with 10 and NC State is third with nine. Clemson is next with eight, Florida State has seven, Wake Forest has six, Georgia Tech has five and Maryland and Duke each have four.
In a 12-year period from 1973 to 1984, Carolina had at least one player break the 1,000-yard mark each season. Three times in that era, the Tar Heels had two tailbacks get 1,000 yards in the same season. It has been rare in college football for a school to produce two 1,000-yard backs in one year. When it has happened it has generally been with option attacks - the veer or the wishbone. But, on all four occasions when Carolina has had a pair of 1,000-yard rushers, the players actually shared the same position - tailback in an I-formation.
Carolina and USC have each had two players rush for 1,000 yards three times - Mike Voight and Kelvin Bryant of the Tar Heels and the Trojans' Charles White and Anthony Davis.
In addition, Carolina's Amos Lawrence had an amazing four 1,000-yard seasons. He and Pittsburgh's Tony Dorsett are the only major college players ever to hit the 1,000-yard mark four times. Lawrence rushed for a career-high 1,211 yards in 1977 as he earned ACC Rookie-of-the-Year honors. Lawrence didn't even play in the first game that year and still managed to run for over 1,200 yards in just 10 games. He was eighth in the nation in rushing and became the first freshman to ever lead the ACC in a major offensive category.
Lawrence, from Norfolk, Va., added 1,043 yards in 1978, 1,019 yards in 1979 and 1,118 yards and a career-high 11 touchdowns in 1980.
McCauley rushed for 1,720 yards in 1970. At that time it broke O.J. Simpson's alltime NCAA single-season yardage record. His 1970 season is one of the finest in ACC history. His 1,720 yards, 19 rushing touchdowns, 10 100-yard rushing games, 2,021 all-purpose yards and 126 points are still single-season ACC records. The first back to earn consensus All-America honors since Charlie Justice, McCauley capped his brilliant career with a memorable game against Duke as he rushed 47 times for 279 yards and five touchdowns in a 59-36 win over the Blue Devils. One local sportswriter wrote of McCauley's final Kenan Stadium effort, "McCauley's performance against Duke was the greatest one-man show since King Kong climbed the Empire State Building."
Another scribe from The Charlotte Observer wrote, "Don McCauley may be the finest football player the Atlantic Coast Conference has ever seen."
McCauley is one of only two Tar Heel 1,000-yard backs from outside the ACC's geographic area. He is a native of Garden City, N.Y. Linton, from Catasauqua, Pa., added to that short list in 1997.
Bryant, Tyrone Anthony, James Betterson, Ethan Horton, Sammy Johnson, Kennard Martin, Means, Curtis Johnson and Leon Johnson are all North Carolinians. Lawrence and Voight grew up in Virginia, and Derrick Fenner is from Maryland.
Many of Carolina's 1,000-yard rushers went on to successful careers in the professional ranks. McCauley played with the Baltimore Colts for 11 seasons and broke many of the club's rushing and scoring records set by Alan Ameche and Lenny Moore. Bryant was the USFL's Player of the Year in that league's first season. He joined the Washington Redskins in 1986.
Means led the Chargers to the Super Bowl in 1994 and was named to the Pro Bowl. He set the single-season rushing record for the Chargers in just his second season when he compiled 1,350 yards in 1994. Means was second in the AFC and fourth in the NFL in rushing yards and he set a Charger record with five consecutive 100-yard games. Means was the offensive spark which led Jacksonville to the AFC Championship Game in 1996 in the franchise's second year of existence.
Horton, Sammy Johnson and Leon Johnson were recruited as quarterbacks. All of the others were high school running backs, although McCauley was more highly regarded as a defensive back.
Fenner set the ACC rushing record in 1986 by gaining 328 yards against Virginia, although that mark was surpassed by Wake Forest's John Leach in 1993 against Maryland. Martin had 291 in 1988 against Duke. Lawrence had 286 against Virginia in 1977 and McCauley gained 279 against Duke in 1970. Then comes Voight's 261 against the Blue Devils in 1976. In 1990, Means rushed for 256 yards in the season finale vs. Duke.
The top two single-season efforts ever in the ACC are McCauley's 1,720 yards in 1970 and Voight's 1,407 in 1976. McCauley and Voight are the only Carolina players to be named ACC Player of the Year in two seasons. McCauley was the top ACC player in 1969 and 1970 and Voight earned that award in 1975 and 1976.
Ethan Horton is the only other UNC player to be named ACC Player of the Year in the same season he rushed for 1,000 yards.
Leon Johnson is the only player in Atlantic Coast Conference history to be in the top five in career all-purpose yards, top five in career touchdowns, top five in career scoring, top 10 in career rushing yards and top 10 in career receptions.
He is first in all-purpose yards in league history, second in touchdowns, fourth in scoring, eighth in rushing and tied for 10th in receptions. He scored 50 touchdowns in his career, just one shy of the alltime ACC record held by Ted Brown of N.C. State. He scored 306 points, one of just four players in league history to top the 300-point mark. He and Brown are the only two non-kickers to accomplish that feat.
Linton alternated for much of his career between tailback and fullback. He was a reserve behind Leon Johnson for several years, but then became a standout as a senior. Linton became the first player in Carolina history to rush for 100 yards and catch passes for 100 yards in the same game. He rushed for 138 yards and added 137 receiving yards in Carolina's 16-13 win at Georgia Tech. Despite suffering a knee injury just two days before the 1998 Gator Bowl, Linton finished his career in fine fashion as he rushed for 68 yards and caught six passes for 81 yards in UNC's 42-3 win over Virginia Tech.
